


Who is the third?

by ncfan



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Pre-Canon, Speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-27 08:42:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6277549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ncfan/pseuds/ncfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A trip north for filming doesn't exactly go as Shuuichi planned it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who is the third?

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from T.S. Eliot's _The Waste Land_ , 'What the Thunder Said.' Because I love _The Waste Land_ entirely too much for my own good, and in context, the line seemed to fit Natori and Sasago both fairly well.

Shuuichi was fairly certain that he had done more traveling in the past year and a half than he had done in his entire life up to that point. Oh, sure, he hadn’t been a secluded country mouse, not completely—there had been the trips he took with his mother’s family, though those had petered out as he got older, his maternal grandparents died and his aunt, with whom he’d never been as close, saw no reason to keep him for a few weeks in the summer as his grandparents had. But asides from trips to the beach and to his grandparents’ house, the only time Shuuichi ever went out of town was on school trips.

Now, he found himself getting dragged all over the country on filming. Shuuichi would be lying if he said he particularly liked occasionally having to spend the night asleep in a car, or the occasional all-nighter when interaction between his work and his _other_ work caused problems. But driving around the countryside wasn’t unpleasant, especially not around this time of year.

The mountains loomed large all around, showing blue and purple, capped with snow. The wind blustered through the lush trees and over the rooftops of the small town the film crew was shooting in. To be honest, Shuuichi’s surroundings weren’t wildly different from where he had grown up, but this was a lot further north than he had ever traveled, and that lent some novelty to the situation. He thought the sky looked a little bluer. Then again, he always thought the sky looked a little bluer when he was away from home.

“And… cut!”

Shuuichi hopped down from the low courtyard wall, dusting off his pants as he did so. Airi, one of his co-stars, shot him a knowing smirk, and he smirked ruefully back. “Through with standing on top of walls?” she muttered.

Shuuichi rubbed the back of his neck and forced a wider smile onto his face. “Well, I’m not quite sure why I have to _be_ on the wall.” He could just imagine how it looked, and quite frankly, he wasn’t even sure what standing on the wall was _adding_ to the scene.

“Dramatic effect, I suppose.”

“I guess…”

The director was calling them all over. “Alright, everyone; that’s enough for today.” He clapped his hands together and grinned, that familiar manic gleam shining bright in his eyes. “We’re starting bright and early tomorrow morning, so get plenty of sleep.” Well, he certainly was in high spirits, though since his mood was still good—uncommonly good, actually—Shuuichi supposed he shouldn’t complain. Give it a while, and the film equipment would start to go on the fritz, and the endless takes and retakes would put the actors on edge, and _then_ , the man’s mood would sour. It never failed.

But for now, the weather was fair, all cloudless skies without the slightest hint of rain. Shuuichi could snicker over his lines in private, and say them with conviction in public. There weren’t even any ayakashi hanging around the inn he was staying in.

-0-0-0-

“’So if you won’t go away with me, then why—‘ Geez.” Shuuichi flipped through the next few pages of the script book, his eyebrows shooting closer and closer to his hairline as he did so. “The lines look cheesier every time I read them,” he said to himself.

He’d found an out-of-the-way staircase to go over his lines in, since there seemed to be someone knocking on the door of his room about once every five minutes. At least if he sat on the top step, he could see someone coming up the stairs in time to get out of their way, and could hear if anyone was calling him about something actually important. _This is what you get for not bringing any books to read_ , he thought, grimacing, _and stuffing your bag full of exorcist stuff instead. I guess after getting caught flat-footed last time, I overdid it_. _It’s not like I could even take most of my supplies up here with me…_

“Hey, did you hear?”

“Hear what?”

Someone was whispering behind him in the hall, two women, one with uncertainty, and the other with dread. Shuuichi heard the wheels of a cart bumping over the slightly uneven planks that made up the floor—the cleaning staff? He didn’t turn to look, but his eyes froze on the top margin of the script book, his lips pressed tight.

“They finally found Naoko’s cat this morning.”

“Really, oh, that’s goo—what’s… what’s wrong? You look so pale.”

“They…”

“’They’ what?”

“When they found him, he’d been tied to a tree branch. By his _tail_.”

A gasp. “What?”

“Yeah.”

“W-was it like the others?”

“Yeah. ……No blood.”

Shuuichi turned halfway to look towards them, his mind racing, but the two women were already walking away, their backs turned to him. He frowned deeply.

That sounded… _fishy_. But then again, it wouldn’t be the first time Shuuichi had gone chasing after ayakashi, only to find that his targets were actually malicious high-schoolers, so he went back to reading the script book. He found he couldn’t quite keep his mind on task, though.

-0-0-0-

Another day:

“Did you hear?”

“Oh, no, another dead pet?”

“No, worse.”

“Miyu, what could be _worse_ than that?”

“It’s Hojo-san. Nobody’s seen her since yesterday.”

“W-well, doesn’t she have dementia? Her daughter’s told me she wanders off into the woods a lot.”

“Yeah, she’s told me that too. But this is the longest time Hojo-san’s ever been gone, and nobody’s been able to find her. Not a trace.”

It was always something. Shuuichi snapped the script book shut and stood, turning to face the two women. With a look of concern (almost entirely unfeigned), he asked, “Excuse me, but what’s going on?”

-0-0-0-

The moon showed itself only in a sliver, pale and wavering, as Shuuichi slipped out one of the side entrances of the inn, and the shadows gathered deep enough that he felt like he was risking breaking his ankle in a pothole with each step he took. A gust of wind blew through the trees, and Shuuichi winced and paused to button up his coat. During the day, the weather was wonderfully mild, but once the sun had gone down, it was still chilly enough for him to actually _need_ the coat and hat he’d started wearing when he went looking for ayakashi.

With all the time he’d spent on filming and reading and rereading the script book over and over again, Shuuichi hadn’t exactly had an opportunity to get out and explore the countryside—none of the scenes set to film were even out in the woods. He would have rather gone out looking during the day; it was easier to spot potholes and boulders and branches in his path when the sun was out, and easier to spot ayakashi as well (And marginally more difficult for ayakashi to sneak up on him, too). But any daytime excursions would more likely than not earn him some hangers-on, so after dark he went out, instead. Hopefully he’d be able to find his way back to the inn before sunrise.

According to the two women he’d spoken to, disappearances were commonplace in this town. Usually, it was people’s pets that went missing, and usually smaller animals like cats, or rabbits (provided they were being kept outside), or small dogs, sometimes. They’d turn up eventually, all dead, most of them drained of blood. And occasionally, every once in a while, a human went missing instead. But no one ever found them.

Shuuichi couldn’t figure out how long this had been going on, exactly. The two women didn’t really seem to know themselves, just that people and animals had been disappearing “for as long as anyone can remember.” Not an exact figure, certainly, but to Shuuichi, ‘for as long as anyone can remember’ suggested that it had been going on for far too long. Well, Shuuichi was just going to have to do something about that.

He stared up at the trees overhead, frowning. He’d already been searching for what felt like hours, and nothing. He saw plenty of trees and bushes, and tripped over plenty of rocks (he was pretty sure he’d scratched the lenses of his glasses), but no sign of his target. No sign of anything.

That Shuuichi hadn’t run into any humans was hardly shocking. With everything that happened, it wouldn’t have surprised him at all if the parents here forbade their children from going out at night, and any adults with sense avoided the forest too. It did surprise him a little that he didn’t see any older children or young adults out here, though. Shuuichi wasn’t _that_ far out of high school—if nothing else, he was surprised he didn’t run into any younger teenagers staking out the woods on a dare or something like that.

He heard no birdcall, saw no shining eyes of nocturnal animals skulking around the trees. No owls, no deer, no raccoon dogs, no foxes. Even if they ran from a human as they normally would, Shuuichi was sure he would have at least seen a glimpse of them as they disappeared over a hill. But nothing.

There was no sound, except for the leaves crunching under Shuuichi’s feet, and the wind howling through the trees. He stopped, and frowned, looking around with mounting uncertainty. He thought it sounded stronger, now.

From… From what he had been told, he’d been sure an ayakashi was responsible for the disappearances, and the deaths. A human culprit would have been caught by now, or died of old age. Shuuichi was also pretty sure a human culprit wouldn’t have been able to make other humans disappear without leaving any trace behind at all. Sure, maybe some of them had just decided to up and leave their old lives, but not _all_ of them—and wouldn’t they have taken their things with them, if that was the case, instead of just walking into the woods one day, and never walking out?

But he’d seen neither hide nor hair of an ayakashi that could conceivably have been his target. He hadn’t seen _any_ sign of ayakashi living in the woods surrounding the town, or making forays into the town itself. No plates or bowls falling off of shelves in the inn unexpectedly, no shadows with no source appearing on the wall, not even the blowhards Shuuichi had to deal with so frequently, the ayakashi who spotted him and decided they wanted to play ‘Let’s harass the visiting exorcist.’ There was only one, and Shuuichi was reasonably certain that _it_ wasn’t responsible for people’s pets and occasionally people themselves going missing around here.

Shuuichi sighed heavily and stuffed his hands in his pockets. _I might as well go back to the inn; it’s not like I’m going to find anything tonight. If it is an ayakashi, it’s probably living too deep in the hills for me to find it and make it back to town before I’m missed. And what would I do if I found it and it spotted me before I could get away? I’m just trying to figure out where it lives tonight, not exorcise it._ He smiled tiredly. _And it’s gonna show too much if I pull an all-nighter. Bags under my eyes have never done anything for my_ —

Suddenly, a branch snapped behind him, and he felt hot, reeking breath on his back. Shuuichi’s blood felt like ice-water in his veins.

He whirled around, eyes wide, pulling a paper talisman from his coat. Standing before him was what looked like a wolf with pale fur, lean and gaunt, but it was far too large to be anything but an ayakashi; Shuuichi barely had to tilt his head downwards to meet its glowing, lamp-like yellow eyes. There was something dark glistening on its long teeth and matted in the fur around its mouth. It looked like it had already eaten something new tonight.

Shuuichi lunged forward, trying to slap the talisman on the wolf ayakashi’s head. It would weaken it greatly if it made contact with the ayakashi’s body—provided the ayakashi wasn’t powerful enough that a talisman like this one wouldn’t affect it at all. But for all his speed, he was still too slow. The wolf ayakashi rushed forward at the same Shuuichi did, and caught his leg in its jaws.

“Ack! Let go!” Shuuichi hissed and clenched his teeth against the pain as the wolf ayakashi started trying to drag him down the steep hill, deeper into the woods. The ayakashi didn’t respond. Somehow, Shuuichi wasn’t surprised.

 _Fine; let’s see how it likes this_. Shuuichi tried to press the talisman against the ayakashi’s muzzle. If it wanted to take a chunk out of him, it could have a nasty headache instead, and Shuuichi had a feeling he’d have more to worry about than bite marks in his leg if he didn’t get away soon. But he couldn’t get a hold. The wolf wouldn’t stay still, and it just kept dragging him further and further down the hill, over wet leaves and sharp-edged branches and rocks. _Not good_. Growing desperate, Shuuichi tried to beat at its head, but even when his fist connected, the ayakashi barely seemed to register the blows.

 _Come on, it’s gotta let go if I just hit it hard enough. Then I get the talisman on it and get away._ Shuuichi struck the ayakashi on the side of its head as hard as he could. It didn’t blink. _Come on_. He grabbed at the trunk of a slender tree, his fingernails scrabbling against smooth bark. _Come on!_

Then, a third came tearing out of the darkness. Shuuichi barely caught a glimpse of metal gleaming in the dim moonlight before the stranger sank a knife into the wolf ayakashi’s shoulder in one swift movement.

 _That_ , it seemed, was finally enough to get a reaction out of the wolf ayakashi. It dropped Shuuichi’s leg and howled, so loud and so shrill that Shuuichi flinched. The wolf charged towards the stranger, who tried to catch it with their knife again. Shuuichi opened his mouth to warn them, but before he could, the wolf jumped, sailing straight over the stranger’s head, all the way to a treetop. It perched easily on the treetop, as though weightless, and stared down at the two of them for a moment, the faint moonlight gleaming on its fur, before jumping to the next treetop, and the next, until it disappeared.

“Damn it!” the stranger hissed, slamming their fist against a tree trunk. Then, they sighed, shaking their head. The stranger sheathed the knife they had used to stab the ayakashi, and tucked it in the front of their kimono.

Shuuichi let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, his heart pounding. _Way too close. Next time I look for it during the day_. He struggled to his feet, his right leg perfectly fine, his left wobbling beneath him. The acrid, copper stench of blood reached his nostrils. _Ah, great. It’s gonna be_ so _much fun getting back to the inn_ , he thought irritably, trying to put weight on the leg. It protested loudly, pain shooting up and down, but Shuuichi supposed he could at least walk on it. _Well, at least nobody saw that_. His gaze was drawn to his rescuer. _Except them._

The stranger hadn’t moved, staring instead at the tree where the wolf ayakashi had perched before fleeing. Shuuichi looked at them curiously, taking a slow step forward. Was the stranger another exorcist? Though he could count on one hand the number of times another exorcist had ever stepped in when he’d gotten in trouble during an assignment, Shuuichi couldn’t imagine who else would have intervened. But as he moved closer to the stranger, he saw something that made him freeze.

He wasn’t looking at an exorcist. The stranger was mostly human in form, enough so that, at a single glance in the dark, Shuuichi might have taken them for human. A human somewhat shorter than himself, wearing a kimono and, curiously, a blindfold over their eyes. But his gaze was drawn irresistibly to the ram’s horns protruding from their curly hair. Shuuichi clamped his mouth shut. If there had been any hint of gratitude in him, it was replaced with unease. He wouldn’t have expected an ayakashi to be the one to save him.

It might have been better to just walk off then and there. The blindfolded ayakashi wasn’t paying any attention to him, and would probably go tearing off after the wolf sooner or later. But it wasn’t like Shuuichi could just run away—this ayakashi would catch up to him all too quickly, if they had half a mind. And the last time he checked, ayakashi didn’t seem to like it very much when people they’d helped didn’t show any gratitude.

 _I guess I should thank them._ Shuuichi frowned. _Or ‘her’, or ‘him’; I’m not sure._ He grimaced. The last time he’d guessed and guessed wrong, the ayakashi in question had gotten _loud_ expressing their displeasure. It really wasn’t like he could run, and the talisman he had on him only weakened ayakashi, rather than killing them—harming the ayakashi who just saved him would probably make it even angrier than guessing its gender wrong, and then he’d have two problems to deal with instead of one.

“Oh, if you _must_ know…” The blindfolded ayakashi’s voice, sharp with exasperation, unceremoniously broke the silence. “…Then I suppose you can refer to me as female.” She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned disapprovingly at Shuuichi.

Shuuichi bristled. “I didn’t say you could go poking through my mind!”

She grimaced. “I hardly needed to; you’re broadcasting so loudly. How do you manage to have dealings with ayakashi if you can’t even guard your thoughts?”

As much as Shuuichi would have liked to fire off a retort, he really wasn’t sure what she—he was assuming she’d meant for him to refer to her as ‘she’; in Shuuichi’s experience, ‘female’ didn’t always mean very much, but in this case, he supposed it meant that the ayakashi wanted to him to refer to her as ‘she’—would do if he made her angry. He swallowed on his would-be retort and nodded stiffly to her. “Thank you for saving me. I don’t think I could have gotten away by myself.”

What she said next thoroughly wrecked any attempts by Shuuichi to keep a cool head. The ayakashi snorted and came to stand a few feet away from him. “Don’t mistake me, little exorcist,” she said sharply. “I didn’t save you out of the goodness of my heart. I expect you to repay me.”

“Excuse me?!”

“I have been hunting him for far longer than you can imagine. I’ve used every trick I can think of. I would have had him tonight,” she spat bitterly, “had you not gotten in the way.”

“How is getting used like a chew toy ‘getting in the way’?!” Shuuichi protested, staring incredulously at her. Suddenly, he didn’t care quite as much about getting the wolf ayakashi as before. Captain Ahab here was welcome to it, so long as she killed it before it could kill any more humans. No way was he getting roped into any ayakashi plots.

The ayakashi jabbed Shuuichi’s chest with one bony finger. Shuuichi recoiled, but she didn’t seem to notice. “I saved your life! You owe me! Or is the honor of an exorcist really worth so little?” she added contemptuously, sneering.

Shuuichi narrowed his eyes. _‘Used every trick you can think of’, huh? I wonder if that includes tying dead cats to tree branches._ Somehow, he doubted she was responsible for the humans disappearing—if so, it was a lot more likely she’d have snuck up on the wolf while it was picking Shuuichi’s bones clean, instead of stabbing the wolf while it was in the process of dragging its latest victim back to its lair. Still… “And how do I know you didn’t set up this little ‘rescue’?” he asked her suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

“I—Wha—“ the ayakashi spluttered, clenching her fists. “How dare you!” she shrieked, her voice cracking. “I would never do something like that!”

“Uh-huh.” Nevertheless, Shuuichi bit his lip. He’d heard plenty of stories from older exorcists about what happened to those who refused to pay back such debts, when owed to ayakashi. If the ayakashi didn’t retaliate themselves, something else happened—it was always something. Somehow, Shuuichi doubted that the forces that governed these things cared very much if the situation had been deliberately engineered to leave him in her debt or not. _Let’s just get this over with_. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Fine, I’ll help you. I’m guessing you want help getting rid of that wolf?”

She nodded firmly. “Of course.”

Shuuichi smiled bitterly. “Of course.” And of course there would be no explanation given as to why she didn’t just _ask_ him for help instead of strong-arming him into this.

With that, the blindfolded ayakashi turned on her heel and started to head off in the direction the wolf ayakashi had fled in. “Go back to the human town and do something about your injuries,” she called. “I’ll see which way he has run.”

“Hey, wait!” Shuuichi tried to run after her, but his leg wobbled dangerously beneath him and he stopped, hissing in pain. “How do I contact you?”

But just as soon as he was talking to her back, he was talking to empty air. Shuuichi groaned and slapped his forehead. “Typical.”

-0-0-0-

Shuuichi got turned around once or twice on the way back, but he made it to the inn just as the sky was starting to lighten and the mountain peaks turn red. He had not, unfortunately, managed to make it back up to his room without attracting scrutiny. Just as he was getting to his door, Airi opened hers and spotted him…

_“Ahh! What happened to your leg?!”_

_“It’s nothing serious.”_

_“Nothing serious?! You’re covered in blood!”_

_“…Oh… There… is a lot of blood, isn’t there? But it’s really nothing to worry about. I tripped outside on the walkway; that’s all.”_

_“You_ tripped _? Natori, it looks like something_ bit _you.”_

_“Nothing bit me, I swear. I just need some bandages.”_

_“And some stitches too, I’d wager.”_

…But all in all, Shuuichi thought he’d deflected her concerns well. He’d paid a trip to the local hospital, gotten bandages (and stitches, yes, thank you, Airi), and counted himself grateful that none of his scenes required him to wear short pants.

Shuuichi left the dining hall after a hasty breakfast, yawning. He knew he wasn’t going to have enough time to get any sleep before he had to get to work, but a shower at least would be nice. _Do I have bags under my eyes?_ he wondered irritably. _Do I look like a walking corpse because I spent all night looking for an ayakashi and then hobbling back here after it decided exorcists make_ great _chew toys, and another ayakashi decided exorcists make great dupes? I sure_ feel _like a walking corpse; I could sleep for a week._ He started up the narrow staircase he’d taken to reading the script book in, wished almost immediately that he’d taken the elevator instead, but kept on going. At least he wasn’t likely to run into anyone on this staircase.

Or, so he thought.

There was a windowed alcove off the staircase, halfway between the first and second floors. Shuuichi had considered reading and rereading his script book there, at first, but had decided not to for two reasons. One, he didn’t like being snuck up on, and he couldn’t see anyone coming from the alcove (And if they were quiet enough, and he absorbed enough in his reading, he couldn’t hear them coming either). Two, the window faced east, and in the mornings quickly became too bright and too hot for him to tolerate. It was usually empty; Shuuichi occasionally came upon someone sitting on the window seat, but not normally.

But there she was again, gilded by blinding sunlight. In the light of day, Shuuichi could get a better look at the blindfolded ayakashi, and supposed he might as well—she might decide to keep causing him trouble even after he’d paid her back. Apart from her horns, she resembled a human woman with fair skin, a long, narrow jaw, and thick brown hair that hung in unkempt curls. Her kimono was dappled yellow and green, like sunlight shining through green leaves. The hem of her skirt was torn on one side, the end fraying and ragged. Her bare feet were caked with dust.

“Back so soon?” Shuuichi asked calmly, though the hairs on the back of his neck rose as he spoke. “I wasn’t expecting to see you this early.”

The ayakashi said nothing for a long moment, her jaw set in a grim line as though preparing herself for something unpleasant. Then, she thrust something out at Shuuichi, who had to stumble backwards to keep her hand from connecting with his nose. “Take this,” she demanded.

The ‘something’ she was holding was a small earthenware jar, painted an iridescent blue. Shuuichi looked from the blindfolded ayakashi to the jar, and back to her again. “What is it?” If this was some sort of attempt to curse him, it was easily the most obvious he’d ever seen.

She frowned at him—probably getting ready to make another smart remark about Shuuichi’s thoughts, he supposed, but it never came. “The wolf has a venomous bite,” she explained. “If an ayakashi he’s attacked manages to escape, the venom will weaken it enough to make it easy prey later—if it doesn’t die first. If you drink this, it will neutralize the venom.”

Shuuichi stared searchingly at her. “Does the venom work the same way on humans?”

“I…” She hesitated, her face softening in uncertainty, before recovering and going on, “…I don’t know, actually. You’re the first human I’ve ever seen be attacked and not die. Do you feel light-headed, or dizzy?”

“A little. But I lost a lot of blood and didn’t get any sleep last night. That could be it.”

“True,” she conceded, nodding slightly, “but it could also be the venom doing its work. Drink the antidote,” she insisted.

But Shuuichi shook his head, taking another careful step back from her. “That was made to work on ayakashi. How do I know it’s not something poisonous to humans?”

She shrugged, the very picture of unconcern. “You don’t. But you certainly can’t help me if you’re dead, so rest assured that I’m not _trying_ to kill you.”

“Right,” Shuuichi sighed. He jerked the jar from her hand—the blindfolded ayakashi had not loosened her grip even when his hand closed around it—and put his hands on his hips, irritation giving way to curiosity. “Is the wolf back yet?”

“No. He fled down the southern hills; I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of him since last night.”

Well, at least Shuuichi would have _some_ time to recover before facing it again. Might as well use the opportunity to try and figure out what the best approach to exorcising the beast would be. “What can you tell me about the wolf?”

She stiffened, the air almost crackling around her. “Nothing that you need to know.”

“I think I _do_ need to know, actually.”

“And why do you believe that?” the blindfolded ayakashi asked, scoffing.

Just then, footsteps sounded on the staircase below. Shuuichi ducked into the alcove. The ayakashi shuffled her feet so that she stood behind him; out of the corner of his eye, he saw her clutching at her arms so hard that her knuckles bled white. Two guests walked by— _not_ members of the film crew, Shuuichi was happy to note; if he was forced to make small talk, the ayakashi might have taken the opportunity to run off while he couldn’t do anything to stop her. He flashed a smile at the two patrons; they smiled and nodded briefly to him, and moved on.

Once Shuuichi was reasonably certain that they were out of earshot, he turned back to face the ayakashi and hissed, “Because you want me to exorcise it for you, that’s why. Anything you can tell me about its weak spots, what it’s vulnerable to, what will attract it, anything like that could mean the difference between success and failure.”

A loud thump sounded overhead. The ayakashi flinched at it, her back arching slightly. “When wounded, he disappears for a while. A week or two; sometimes longer. And when he returns,” she said, very deliberately, “you and I will put an end to him. That is all you need to know, exorcist.”

Whatever. He’d get more information out of her later. “Look, I’m here with a film crew,” Shuuichi protested. “When they leave, I have to leave with them. It doesn’t matter if your target’s come back yet or not.”

“Then you had best hope he comes back before then,” she said ominously.

Shuuichi jerked his head back. “And what exactly will you do?” he asked cautiously. Somehow, he didn’t relish the idea of exchanging one target for another, especially if the replacement would be actively causing him trouble.

“I’ll haunt you.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. I’ll come into your house and break all of your crockery.”

Shuuichi blinked. “… _Really?_ ”

“Yes, really,” she snapped. “Do you doubt me?”

“No, no.” Shuuichi refrained from telling her that if it was actually possible for someone to die from sheer aggravation, Seiji would have killed him within about a month of their meeting. Having determined that he was in approximately no danger from her, Shuuichi moved on to something that could potentially prove problematic. “So what are the local exorcists doing about the wolf?” He didn’t really want to come across his competition unawares.

She shifted her weight from foot to foot. “I don’t go into the human town,” she answered cagily. “If you want to find the local exorcists, you’ll have to go looking for them yourself.”

“But I’ve never made contact with any community outside of my own.” And an exorcist showing up completely uninvited at another exorcist’s home was generally _not_ welcomed. “How am I supposed to find them?”

“Figure it out yourself.”

She vanished, like sunlight obscured by cloud, and Shuuichi made an irritated noise in the back of his throat. That was really getting old.

Shuuichi leaned up against the wall of the alcove. So he was on his own? Well, fine. Business as usual. He looked down at the little jar she had given him. It shimmered in the sunlight like the smooth, unruffled surface of a pond. Perfectly innocent, it looked, but Shuuichi just wasn’t sure.

-0-0-0-

The neon sign outside the florist’s shop shone bright pink, a little faded in the late afternoon sunlight, just as Shuuichi had been told. Nonetheless, he checked the address against the one he’d been given before walking inside. He was pretty sure this was the right place, but he didn’t want to walk in asking the questions he intended to ask if he was mistaken.

He’d not had a whole lot of time to do independent research in-between filming; it had been dawn to dusk for the past two days. However, Shuuichi had managed to get out and about in town and ask a few questions.

It wasn’t that hard to play the part of ‘wide-eyed tourist’ to the locals, nor the part of ‘eccentric actor with weird hobbies’ to anyone who actually happened to recognize him as one of the actors doing filming here. All he had to do was make mention of an interest in ‘ghosts’ and half the people he spoke to filled in the blanks for him. Anyone who at all enjoyed the spotlight talked his ear off.

But Shuuichi had come away with very little he could actually use. There were the ubiquitous stories of disappearing hitchhikers and women who wore surgical masks over their slit mouths and menaced people with scissors, and local stories of the same nature. Shuuichi had been doing this long enough to tell the difference between an urban legend and actual ayakashi activity or signs of an exorcist going about doing their work.

And indeed, he had seen no sign of exorcists going about their work. No traces of spell circles hastily etched and then scuffed away in the dirt. No torn talismans dangling from tree branches. No slips of paper flying through the air or caught in rain gutters. Nothing that he could trace.

Finally, though, Shuuichi got a bit of information that he thought might prove promising. The local florist, one Matsumoto Akemi, was supposed to be a huge supernatural buff, and more than willing to talk about it to anyone who evinced interest. It wasn’t much to go on, but maybe, just maybe…

The moment Shuuichi opened the door of the store, he was hit by a blast of humid air. With some measure of caution, peering around to see if there were any ayakashi lurking in the recesses of the store, Shuuichi walked inside.

The interior of the small store was crammed full of flowers in flowerpots and vases, tall sunflowers and bunches of morning glory and dozens of other flowers Shuuichi didn’t recognize, in every color he could imagine, so that walking through the store felt like walking through a canvas where the artist had just decided to splash all of their paint onto it to see which color they liked best. Red, pink, orange, yellow, purple, white, lavender, with the occasional blue flowers thrown in for good measure. The commingled smell of the dozens of flowers’ scents made Shuuichi feel a little dizzy, but he shook it off. He thought some of the flowers might have been made of cloth—he couldn’t help but brush up against some of them in the narrow walkways, and what rubbed against his arms felt more like woven fabric than flower petals—but that was hardly his concern. Now, where was Matsumoto-san?

As Shuuichi neared the cash register, a tall, plump woman appeared at the misty glass door behind it. She pushed the door open with one hand, wheeling out a small cart piled high with red, green and blue ceramic flowerpots. She continued on like that for several moments, stacking all the flowerpots on a shelf by that door. Shuuichi said nothing, did nothing that would have alerted her to his presence; he frowned slightly, watching, wondering if maybe she might be—

“Oh!” Finally, the woman caught sight of Shuuichi. She sprang to her feet, running a hand through her sweaty brown hair and smiling widely. “I’m sorry; I didn’t see you standing there. Welcome to Matsumoto’s Flowers; I’m Matsumoto Akemi. My shop assistant’s on leave today, so I’m afraid you’ll just have to make do with me today.”

Shuuichi produced a ready smile for her. “That’s alright, Matsumoto-san. I had heard about your store from asking around, and I just had to see it.”

Matsumoto-san’s eyes sparked with curiosity. “Really? I’ll admit, young man, it’s not often that my store is singled out as a sight to see in town.”

“It’s Natori, actually; Natori Shuuichi.” Shuuichi didn’t like the idea of revealing his name so casually, not in such a situation, but it could potentially be worth the risk, so he did so without any apparent hesitation. “Yes, they did recommend your store to me, but that’s not the only reason I’m here.”

She nodded, bracing one hand on the edge of the countertop. Matsumoto-san had shown no sign of recognition at his name, no flash in the eye, miniscule raise of the eyebrow, quirk of the lip. Of course, Shuuichi didn’t exactly know just how well-known his clan had been outside of their home region, and it had been many years since they had been in practice. It didn’t mean anything, not necessarily. “And what is your other reason?”

Shuuichi’s smile grew slightly sharp. “Well, Matsumoto-san, the word around town is that you know everything there is to know around here about ghosts.”

“Ha!” She grinned broadly, another laugh bubbling up in her throat. “I do know a few things, though if anyone told you I’m an expert, you were lied to.”

And who would just baldly admit all that they knew to a stranger? Shuuichi nodded slightly, his jaw starting to hurt a bit from keeping his smile. “I’m interested in anything you can tell me.”

The florist needed no further encouragement. “There’s the story of the girl at the end of the lane. Have you heard it?”

“No, ma’am.”

“This one’s gone around town for a long time now. A taxi driver gets a call to pick up a young woman waiting for him at the end of the main thoroughfare through town. He asks her where she wants to go, and she gives him an address he doesn’t recognize. ‘Oh, it’s up in the mountains,’ she tells him, ‘it will only take about an hour. I’ll give you directions.’

“Well, he follows her directions, but an hour comes and goes, and they’re not where she said they’d be. ‘It’s just a little further,’ she says, ‘just keep driving on this road.’

“He keeps driving, and they never get any closer to where she’s supposed to get out; she just keeps telling him to drive, deeper and deeper into the mountains. It’s getting dark, and there’s no moon, and the driver’s getting nervous. Finally, he pulls over and tells the woman that he’s not going to go any further unless she tells him what’s going on, and that if she wants to keep secrets, she can just walk the rest of the way. But when the taxi driver turns around, there isn’t anyone in the backseat of the car. He’s alone.

“Our hero’s surprised, but when he thinks about every explanation there could be, he figures it’s probably a good thing she decided to just vanish instead of doing anything else to him. He starts up his car to try to find his way back home…” Matsumoto-san paused, smiling thinly “…only to drive right over the edge of a cliff.”

“Really? That’s horrible.” That was a story Shuuichi must have heard a thousand times, by film crews, by classmates, by random kids on the bus or the train whispering amongst themselves, trying to entertain themselves. But maybe she was trying to sound him out, too.

“Yeah,” she agreed, her dark eyes shining brightly. “You’ve always gotta be careful about hitchhikers, don’t you? But I’ll bet you’ve heard stories like that all over this country; I know one I’d bet you haven’t heard.”

Shuuichi perked up, looking more closely at her. “And what is that?”

Matsumoto-san leaned up against the misty glass door. There was the satisfied gleam in her eyes that Shuuichi had often seen in other exorcists when they told stories. “A while back, a bunch of high school students broke in after dark because they wanted to watch a video in the school auditorium. Being a bunch of teenagers breaking into a school at night, you can guess what kind of a movie it was.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Pornography?”

She shook her head. “Good guess, but no. It was a film showing pigs being killed in a slaughterhouse, and an especial amount of attention was paid to the moment when the pigs would be beheaded. As far as the students were concerned, this was all great fun, but eventually, they got scared of being caught and left, and for the next few days, everything was quiet.

“Then, a week after they broke into the school, on the way home, one of the students involved found a severed pig’s head sitting on the sidewalk at the end of the street where they lived. The next day, it was a pig’s head outside the front gate of their house, and one of their co-conspirators found a pig’s head at the end of the street where _they_ lived. It went on like that, from the end of the street to outside the front gate, up to the front stoop, one after another, and the day after a student found a pig’s head on the front stoop, they would vanish.

“Finally, it was the day after the last student left had found a pig’s head on their stoop. He was very nervous coming home, unsure of what he would find. All was quiet in the house—his parents weren’t home yet, and there didn’t seem to be anything strange. He went upstairs to his room, and what should he find, but the severed heads of his co-conspirators, all lined up in a row on the bed. Their dead eyes all turned on him, and they said as one, ‘So you think it’s funny, do you?’”

There was another story Shuuichi had heard before, though only in this town. Nevertheless, he softly asked, “And what happened next?”

Matsumoto-san shrugged. “No one knows. That’s where the story ends.”

This was not exactly having the desired result. Shuuichi wondered if repeat visits would be necessary to get anything telling out of her, and grimaced inwardly at the prospect. The logistics alone would be a nightmare, and how to get the information out of her? _If it’s even there at all._

“I’ve been hearing things around town,” Shuuichi said hesitantly, though let Matsumoto-san believe what she would of the reasons why. “Something about people disappearing?”

The florist’s smile faded in response to that. She rubbed at her arm, her face lined with uncertainty. “Yes, I suppose you would be hearing things like that,” she muttered, her eyes shifting around the room. “You won’t get too many to talk to you about it, and I wouldn’t advise asking too freely. Don’t wander off at night; I can tell you that much.”

Shuuichi caught sight of that black silhouette winding down his left arm, slowly crawling. It was inscrutable as ever, but Shuuichi got, same as he always did (whether he was imagining it or not), the hint of perverse pleasure at being seen. It settled just above his wrist, tail flicking lazily back and forth. Shuuichi ran his hand through his hair, letting his fingers linger for a moment behind his ear. “And how do you deal with ghosts that cause you trouble?”

It was still there, directly before her eyes; Shuuichi could see it swishing its tail, still. No reaction. She didn’t gawk or exclaim, she didn’t stare, she didn’t as much as blink in its direction. As far as Matsumoto-san was concerned, it wasn’t there. Shuuichi let his arm drop, stomach suddenly roiling.

Matsumoto-san was as aware of Shuuichi’s disquiet as she was of the thing that lived under his skin. “The typical remedies; anything your parents might have told you.” Shuuichi’s family would have told him something rather different. “Failing that, call a priest.” Her tone was very even, her eyes remote, but in half a second she switched to enthusiasm, flipping open a catalogue and pushing it across the countertop. “Now, young man, enough of this talk. I don’t let anyone leave this shop without a bouquet.”

Shuuichi took a step backwards, throwing up his hand, a sheepish smile equal in defense. “Oh, I couldn’t.”

“Well, if you don’t want them, how about your wife?”

“I’m not married.”

“Your girlfriend?”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.” His manager would lose his mind if Shuuichi suddenly showed up with a girlfriend—no word on what he thought of Shuuichi dating men, but he likely wouldn’t respond any better to that.

“Sister?”

Shuuichi’s smile slipped. “I’m an only child.”

“Surely your mother wouldn’t mind some flowers.”

“My mother’s dead,” Shuuichi said bluntly, turning an eye towards the front door.

Matsumoto-san paled. “Oh… I’m sorry… I-I,” she stammered, mortified.

The first plan had been to mutter something sufficiently conciliatory and use the opportunity to escape. But the sight of her white face made Shuuichi’s stomach churn even harder. He took the catalogue in his hands and flipped through a few pages, until he finally just chose one at random and pointed it out to her. “I’d like a bouquet of these,” he told her quietly, and didn’t bother smiling.

Shuuichi reached the street mercifully soon after that, and drew a tired breath.

Well, there went the best lead he’d had. If that woman had ever been an exorcist, she certainly wasn’t anymore. Shuuichi didn’t have time to go trekking through the hills looking for hidden houses, and knew that even if he found one, that wasn’t a solution—sentries didn’t take kindly to uninvited guests, and Shuuichi wasn’t going to endear himself to the local exorcists by injuring or killing their shiki.

The streets seemed much emptier now than they had been when Shuuichi had walked inside the store. As he started the long walk back to the inn, he wondered if this was how it was every day for the people who lived here. The dark had proven no friend to them, so they shunned it. He squared his jaw, clutching at the sheet of plastic Matsumoto-san had wrapped the flowers in. _But what they don’t know is that the daylight won’t save them. What threatens them is something that has no respect for anything, and even if they can’t see it, it can see them._

_That’s always the way. They can’t protect themselves, and it doesn’t care that they can’t even see it to run from it._

Shuuichi’s brow furrowed. He still had Takuma-san’s phone number, provided he hadn’t changed it since he’d first given Shuuichi his card back when they met. He had Seiji’s as well—shortly after graduating high school, Seiji had, for reasons passing understanding, given Shuuichi his cell phone number. Shuuichi figured that either one of them would likely know if there were any exorcists living in this part of the country, and how to contact them. It just took dialing a few numbers.

But he dismissed the idea almost as soon as it came to him. Takuma-san’s immediate reaction would be one of worry, which would only mount if he learned the full situation, and while it was only an outside possibility, if Takuma-san actually showed up here, Shuuichi was pretty sure he’d die on the spot from embarrassment. And Seiji, Seiji would never let Shuuichi hear the end of it if he ever found out that Shuuichi had let an ayakashi strong-arm him into helping her (Shuuichi knew better than to assume that he could keep that detail from him), not unless Seiji died laughing first. Shuuichi could deal with this by himself.

And he suspected he knew what their own investigations would turn up. Shuuichi had seen no trace of exorcists here, and there was something else to consider. If there were exorcists here, not even a large community but just a small group, why wouldn’t the blindfolded ayakashi go to one of them for help, instead of accosting an outsider whose competence she couldn’t even be sure of? Oh, sure, it might be that she had a bad reputation (Shuuichi could believe that, easily) and didn’t want to expose herself to them, but surely there were a few disreputable exorcists she could have made a deal with. And surely they would have done something about the wolf themselves by now, if it was killing humans.

(Maybe the human victims _were_ exorcists.)

Maybe it was for the best that there were no exorcists here (So long as they weren’t the wolf’s victims). At least Shuuichi knew he wouldn’t run afoul of any competitors, and he was used to doing things by himself. This wasn’t any different from the other times.

He turned his attention to the flowers he had gotten from Matsumoto-san. They were spider lilies, their scarlet petals almost unnaturally vivid compared to the faded, slightly peeling paint on the buildings Shuuichi walked past. Maybe curiosity had influenced a random choice, after all, for Shuuichi didn’t think he’d ever seen red spider lilies in a florist’s shop before. He brought the flowers close to his face, inhaling deeply, but he caught no scent. He ran his fingers over the spindly petals, his mouth twitching bemusedly. Did they have no scent because they had been grown out of season? Shuuichi wasn’t entirely sure, but the only time he had ever seen spider lilies growing wild was in autumn, so maybe that was it. He could always spy a few growing around the cemetery, when he went with his father in autumn.

Well, now that he had them, Shuuichi supposed he might as well try to preserve them, for as long as they would last. He’d see if the inn—

The hairs on the back of Shuuichi’s neck prickled. He felt a faint… _something_ behind him. Heaving a sigh, he turned on his heel. “Something?” he asked the empty air, frowning. There was no response. There never was, in the brief moments when he realized she was there, standing concealed behind him. Just ‘checking in’, he supposed, and couldn’t be bothered to do so directly. Delightful.

He’d see if the inn had a vase he could put the spider lilies in.

-0-0-0-

That night, Shuuichi woke to the wind howling on the roof, battering on the window like fists. He sat up, rubbing his face and groaning.

Shuuichi had never had the easiest time sleeping somewhere new, not unless he was completely exhausted. It had taken him ages to get used to his apartment; it wasn’t like he was going to be entirely comfortable sleeping here after so little time. _I never thought I’d miss my old room before I moved out, but it was a lot easier to sleep there._

 _…I wonder if the kitchen’s still open._ Shuuichi climbed out of bed, yawning. _I could at least get something to eat_.

Halfway to the door, a shadow fell over him.

Shuuichi’s room overlooked the inn’s courtyard—it wasn’t a bad view, thought it definitely improved in sunlight. At the edge of the courtyard there was an oak tree, whose sprawling branches stretched virtually to the front gate. When Shuuichi looked out his window, he saw someone familiar sitting in the crook of one of the thicker branches.

He practically ran to his window to open it; a blast of cool air hit his face. “What are you doing out there?” he hissed. This was getting ridiculous; bad enough that she occasionally popped in during the day, even if she was invisible at the time, but at night now, too?

The blindfolded ayakashi shrugged. “It would be bad if something were to happen to you before the wolf returned—and the last exorcist who agreed to help me broke faith,” she added, her voice hardening. “It’s only reasonable for me to keep you under watch.”

 _Another exorcist?_ Shuuichi wondered. He rolled his eyes. _Must have been another out-of-towner; I sure haven’t seen any exorcists around here._

Shuuichi frowned at her. She was hunched up against the trunk of the tree, her knees drawn to her chest; she clutched tightly at a knob on the trunk with one hand. It was going to be weird, trying to sleep knowing that she was sitting out there, staring inside his window. He sighed. “Well… Why don’t you come in here, then, if you think you need to watch over me?”

She tilted her head slightly. “Go… in there?” she asked uncertainly.

“Yes, in here.”

Very slowly, her hand still clenched on that knob in the trunk, the ayakashi got to her feet. A moment later, she was perched on the windowsill, and Shuuichi quickly moved aside to let her in.

“So what happened to the last exorcist you press-ganged into helping you?” Shuuichi asked sarcastically. “Did you haunt them, too?”

“Not exactly,” she replied vaguely. She folded her arms across her chest, clutching at her sleeves with her fingertips. Then, she said, quite suddenly, “I’ve mostly been searching the forest for the wolf, but I’ve been here as well. So… you’re an actor?”

Shuuichi’s eyebrows shot up. Of all the things he’d expected her to say or ask, this wasn’t one of them. He’d figured the ayakashi would want to know about what he did as regards to _exorcism_ , if she wanted to know anything about him. “Yes, I am.”

“The premise of the story seems a touch…” she paused, seemingly measuring her words “…ridiculous.”

To his surprise, Shuuichi found himself laughing ruefully. “I guess it is. But I actually prefer it that way.” Things became easier to say, emotions easier to manufacture and then _control_ , the further divorced the story was from reality. Then, it was something he could laugh off, and anger, joy or sorrow feigned for his part had no bite.

“I heard one of the other humans talking about ‘recording equipment,’” she prompted, her lips pursing in mild confusion. “What is that? I had been to understand that you were rehearsing before going to the stage.”

“Oh, well…” How was he going to explain this? Shuuichi had never known an ayakashi to take interest in human technology before, and she gave the strong impression of having had little to nothing to do with humans up to now. “Well, we have a machine that can record anything in its field of vision when it’s on.”

“I… see.” From the rather dubious tone of her voice, Shuuichi suspected she _didn’t_ see, but he didn’t challenge the assertion. “And how is this communicated to your audience?”

“Through television. A television set is a device that plays the recordings. It does that through light waves and electrical impulses that form the image.” Actually, Shuuichi wasn’t entirely sure that that was how it worked, but it was as close as he could get to explaining it properly.

“And sound?”

“Sound’s captured along with the image. It’s relayed through volume controls.” And Shuuichi couldn’t begin to guess how to really explain that to her.

The blindfolded ayakashi nodded seriously, before declaring, “I don’t understand any of this.”

“Never mind, then,” Shuuichi muttered. So much for explaining the marvels of modern technology to an ayakashi.

He watched as she slowly traversed the room, walking with an odd, shuffling gait he’d seen no hint of in the forest. She paused by the little table by the door, where Shuuichi had put the spider lilies he’d gotten from the florist’s shop in a chipped vase the inn had provided. After running her hand over the petals, she asked, sounding almost alarmed, “Why do you have graveyard flowers? It’s not autumn yet.”

“I got them in the florist’s shop,” Shuuichi explained. “I think they look nice,” he added defensively. He had no intention of having to justify his choice in flowers to an ayakashi.

“Why would a florist even _have_ these flowers?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she likes them. Did you ever think of that?”

“They’re a bad omen,” she said firmly, “and you’re inviting ill fortune by having them. You should get rid of them.”

Shuuichi hunched his shoulders. “I make my own luck.”

She nodded, nevertheless looking unconvinced. Whatever. If she seriously thought a bit of bad luck would be enough to jeopardize the operation, then she shouldn’t have been going after the wolf in the first place.

The ayakashi continued her progress around the room, only to stop by the dresser—well, it might be more accurate to say that she’d nearly walked into it. Shuuichi took a step forward, concerned in spite of himself. He heard her mutter, “Blasted furniture; how does anyone put up with it,” and could only watch as she laid a hand flat on one of the papers he’d left lying there, and frowned.

“You know—“ She lifted the paper up and held it aloft; Shuuichi couldn’t make out what was on it that would have gotten her attention, but what she said next gave him a good idea “—I don’t pretend to know too much of your writing. But I do recognize this.” She pressed her finger against a particular line. Quietly, with half-hidden curiosity, she said, “I thought all your people had died out long ago.”

“Not exactly,” Shuuichi replied, eyeing her cautiously. “I remain.”

He really didn’t know how well-known the name ‘Natori’ was outside of their home region, either to exorcists, or to ayakashi. It wasn’t entirely unknown, it would seem, but what kind of reputation did it have? If he’d stumbled on someone with a grudge _again_ …

Shuuichi crossed the room and yanked the paper out of the ayakashi’s hand. “Forget about my clan,” he muttered, stuffing all the papers he’d left lying out in a drawer. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Are you certain of that?”

“Yes, I’m certain.” Shuuichi smiled at her, though the result was markedly strained. He clenched his fists. “After all, didn’t you say that the only thing that mattered was that we kill the wolf ayakashi?”

“I suppose I did,” she agreed, her brow furrowed, “but your—“ She broke off, stiffening.

Shuuichi’s smile dropped off his face. “What is it?” he demanded tensely. “The wolf?”

She shook her head choppily. “No, something else. Ah—hold still!”

To Shuuichi’s unmitigated shock, she grabbed his chin, pulling his head sharply to one side. “What are you doing?! Get off!” He tried to swat her hand away, but her grip only tightened.

“Don’t be a baby,” she told him absently. “I’m trying to get a better look. Aha!” She pressed the fingertips of her free hand against his cheek. “Now,” she muttered, running her teeth over her lower lip, “I had thought there was something strange about you. So tell me, how long has _that_ been there?”

Shuuichi shoved her away roughly, biting back a snarl. “Get out!” he snapped.

She took a step backwards, but no alarm showed itself on the ayakashi’s face. “How long?” she asked softly.

“Get out!”

She opened her mouth, but said nothing. Then, she sighed, and vanished.

Alone, Shuuichi’s blood pounded in his ears, old anger and old fear coming back fresh as though he’d first found them yesterday. He barely heard when someone came knocking at his door.

-0-0-0-

As far as anyone who had come up here with him now knew, Natori Shuuichi was deathly afraid of spiders. It was the only explanation he could think to give to the people who’d heard him shouting, and somehow, he didn’t think they’d quite bought it (Raised eyebrows and incredulous tones could tell him that much). In the morning he was the butt of a few jokes, and from the whispers he heard, Shuuichi suspected there would be a few fake spiders for him to feign horror at some time soon, but it was nothing worse than anything he’d dealt with in exorcists’ meetings.

He saw no sign of the blindfolded ayakashi the whole morning; he didn’t even get the feeling of being watched that had been so frequent since they first made contact. Shuuichi didn’t know whether to be glad of that or not. The more he thought of his outburst, the more embarrassed he became—there’d been no reason to overreact as much as he had. _Every time I think it’s stopped bothering me…_

(Maybe it was because the wolf had grabbed his left leg.)

At least Shuuichi knew she’d show up once the wolf returned. She’d gone to too much trouble securing his cooperation to just let him off the hook, no matter what had passed between them.

The morning passed in takes and retakes that Shuuichi could hardly devote his attention to. He kept getting stuck imagining trying to track down and dispatch the wolf by himself—he imagined failing, either in exorcising the ayakashi, or even in finding it at all, and having to go home, knowing it was at liberty to kill and devour. When that failed, his imagination instead ran to the blindfolded ayakashi trying to get rid of it herself, and being killed. Whatever had passed between them, and regardless of whether or not she cared at all about the human victims, she was trying to put an end to an ayakashi that preyed upon humans. Shuuichi could respect that, and, reluctant as he might be to admit it, he felt no joy at the thought of her dying trying to stop it.

The break for lunch came as a relief for Shuuichi; it at least gave him a chance to clear his mind. He’d found a shop where the baker liked to make daifuku with any filling imaginable, from anko and ume to chocolate crème and peanut butter and even barbecued pork (Though, quite frankly, Shuuichi didn’t think the ones with pork were any good). They were big enough that two were enough to make a meal out of them. Shuuichi had found a quiet place to eat, too, on the steps cut into the side of a hill, on a stone path in the park.

It was the weekend, and there were several children shrieking with laughter as they played on the swing set or chased each other playing tag. A young couple ate lunch together on a picnic blanket, whispering to each other, the young woman giggling and smiling as though her heart might burst. Shuuichi never knew whether to credit such emotions or not; he just watched them all out of the corner of his eye as he made his way towards his usual spot. None of them ever came here alone, and they seemed happy. He wondered how they felt at night, when the shadows closed around them, and there came the suspicion that every shadow might hold the threat they feared.

Shuuichi settled down on the steps and stared out at the green woods beyond. _It could be out there right now, and I’d never know until it was breathing down my neck._

So lost was he in his thoughts that he heard, rather than saw, someone sit down beside him. At first, Shuuichi thought it was one of his co-workers—seemed he wouldn’t be having a quiet lunch today, and it seemed like he’d have to find somewhere else to eat from now on too, if this place was no longer secret. However, when he looked down, he saw the torn hem of a dappled yellow and green kimono, and bare feet caked with dust.

He really didn’t know what to say. One look at her face, entirely too even, told him that she probably felt the same way.

They sat in silence for a long time, the wind blowing gently through the trees overhead. Shuuichi’s daifuku sat untouched at his side; it didn’t seem right to eat when she sat there with no food of her own.

Finally, he took one of the daifuku out of the checkered tissue paper they had been wrapped in. He held it out to her and asked helplessly, “Do you want one?”

With a hint of caution, the blindfolded ayakashi took the daifuku out of his hand. She rolled it over in hers, frowning. “How odd,” she muttered, in a barely audible voice. “It’s not meat, is it?” she asked suspiciously.

“What? No, of course not. It’s daifuku. The one you’re holding has sliced peaches inside, and the other one has anko.”

She took a small, exploratory bite out of the daifuku. After a moment, she made a face, swallowing only with difficulty.

Shuuichi frowned, concerned. “What’s wrong?” Had the baker left the stone in by mistake? Were the peaches not ripe?

“It’s too sweet!” the ayakashi exclaimed, her lip curling in disgust. “It’s vile!”

“Well, I like them that way.” Shuuichi couldn’t quite keep the defensive note out of his voice.

Quite unceremoniously, she shoved the daifuku back in his direction. “You’re welcome to it, then. I’ll find my own dinner later.”

Shuuichi restrained a sigh and wrapped the daifuku back up in its paper. They fell to silence again.

Why was she here? If the wolf had returned, surely she would have said so immediately—she hardly seemed the sort to beat around the bush with something as important to her as killing the wolf ayakashi clearly was. Ayakashi didn’t show up simply to talk to him or sit quietly with him like this. That wasn’t how it worked.

A shadow fell over his right arm, but it wasn’t a shadow, not exactly. The blindfolded ayakashi passed her hand over it, so close to the skin that the hairs on Shuuichi’s arms prickled, but never actually touching it. “There were times,” she said softly, something undefinable in her voice, “when your presence seemed… doubled, somehow. It’s been so long since I last spoke with a human that I thought I might be imagining it. But the soap you use to wash your clothes concealed its scent until it thought to venture out from under them.”

A thousand questions came to mind, and died in Shuuichi’s mouth before they could be spoken. He felt sick.

“Exorcist.” Her shoulders drooped; she sounded tired. “I will tell you about the wolf.” She swallowed hard, and added, “And the exorcist who came before you.”

Shuuichi nodded silently.

“For many years, since long before I was born, the wolf lived in a cave in the mountains. He was the guardian of all the ayakashi who lived here, their protector.” She drew an uneven breath before going on, “But then, one day, he went berserk, filled with a hunger that could never be sated, and which drove out his mind. He preys mostly upon ayakashi, but failing that, will devour humans and animals instead. I have hunted him since then.”

“So what happened to it?” Shuuichi asked her, puzzled. “If it really was your guardian, it didn’t just go berserk at random, did it?”

She stared down at the ground. “I don’t know,” she said, very quietly. “I… don’t suppose I’ll ever know.”

Shuuichi shook his head. “Typical.” There never seemed to be a reason for it with ayakashi, no reason except that they were hungry and their victims happened to be there. But there was more to this tale. “And what about the other exorcist?”

“He…” She clenched her jaw, clutched at her sleeves with her fingers. “…He was from elsewhere, just like you. I approached him, asking for aid against the wolf, and he gave it. But once he actually saw the wolf, he must have reconsidered, because he tried to flee the town not long afterwards.”

“’Tried.’” Looking sharply at her, Shuuichi queried, “You tried to stop him?”

But she laughed hollowly. “No. Not I. The wolf found him on the road before he could get too far. I drove him off before he could finish the job, but the exorcist succumbed to his injuries.” Her hands, clamped to her knees now, were white from clutching at that handhold.

“This upsets you?” Shuuichi didn’t bother trying to hide his skepticism. “I thought he had broken faith with you.”

“It wasn’t what I would have chosen,” the ayakashi muttered. Her thick hair slipped past her horns, obscuring her face from view. “Not that.”

She looked smaller than she had before, almost childlike. It was a state of being that Shuuichi, however reluctantly, recognized all too well. “Things rarely go the way we plan them to,” he offered awkwardly, not quite looking at her. “Not perfectly.”

A soft sigh hit the air. “Indeed, they don’t.” She reached over into the bushes and pulled out a thick, cloth bundle. “I do have some things from him that might prove useful,” she remarked, dumping the bundle on Shuuichi’s lap. “Well, asides from _this_.” She pulled the knife she had used the first night from the front of her kimono; Shuuichi saw for the first time that the hilt was wrapped in dappled yellow-and-green cloth, probably the missing bit of cloth from her skirt hem. She grinned briefly, in a flash of white teeth. “I’m keeping this. I’ve never been able to get the rest of it to work for me, but maybe you’ll have better luck.”

Brow furrowed, Shuuichi unwrapped the bundle. His first impression of the tools the ayakashi had recovered from the dead exorcist was that they were very old. Paint and ink were fading, wood chipped, fiber fraying. The second was that he was completely unfamiliar with any of it. There were talismans with symbols he couldn’t read or, in some cases, even make out. There were blunted wooden stakes whose purpose Shuuichi could not begin to divine. There was a coil of faded blue rope, which might have been used as a restraint, but was just as likely to have been used for something else. There was even a porcelain doll with scraped skin, a frayed, weather-stained green velvet dress and long, tangled black hair, but it bore no resemblance to the dolls Shuuichi occasionally saw used in exorcism. Far more likely, it was a gift the dead exorcist had picked up for his child while in town.

“I don’t recognize any of this,” Shuuichi finally admitted, frowning bemusedly. “These aren’t the kind of tools I’m familiar with.”

The ayakashi’s shoulders sagged. “Oh.”

Uncomfortable at the sight of her dejection, Shuuichi added, “But that doesn’t matter. I have everything I need for an exorcism. When it comes back, we’ll be ready.”

Slowly, she nodded.

-0-0-0-

It was just after filming had stopped for the day. As Shuuichi was heading back to the inn, he spotted the ayakashi standing just beyond the tree line, waving frantically at him. _It must be time_. His heart pounding, Shuuichi made his way over to where she was waiting. “It’s back, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” she hissed, the air crackling around her in a mixture of anticipation and dread. “Let’s go.”

She shot out into the woods, so fast that Shuuichi, even though his leg had mostly healed by now, could scarcely keep up with her. _What does she want me to do?_ he wondered. _Are we just rushing in, and her expecting me to do something on the fly? That’s not going to work._ He grimaced. _And I’d really rather not get my leg ripped off this time._

_I know what I need to do._

When they came to a level patch of ground, Shuuichi stopped running. “Why are you stopping?” the ayakashi demanded, her voice taut. “He could get away!”

“We’re not going to be able to exorcise it if we just rush in,” Shuuichi reasoned. “It’s too strong for that. Now, how far away is it?”

“About two miles. But he’s on the move, and every moment we waste makes it that much more difficult for me to track him.”

Shuuichi bit back a retort. “I know that. I need time to draw a circle. Do you think you can drive it here?”

She frowned slightly. “…I believe so.”

“Good! Take this.” Shuuichi pulled out the talisman he’d tried to use on the wolf earlier, and held it out to her. “If you can get this onto the wolf, it should weaken it—it’ll make it easier for me to exorcise it.”

The ayakashi took the talisman from him, yanking her sleeve down over her hand so that cloth made contact with the paper instead of skin. But she didn’t go off after the wolf; instead, she folded her arms over her chest, her frown turning hesitant.

Shuuichi flashed a reassuring smile at her. “I’m not going to run away.”

Slowly, she nodded, and vanished into the hazy late afternoon.

 _Sure didn’t think there’d come a day when I’d be reassuring an ayakashi about_ my _resolve,_ Shuuichi thought to himself as he cleared deadfall from the ground and scratched out a circle with a fallen branch. _The last I checked, ayakashi are the fickle ones, not exorcists_ — _well…_ He rolled his eyes. _More fickle, anyways._

But… But Shuuichi thought he understood her. Whether it was hate or despair or something else entirely that drove her, she wanted this to be over. She had for far too long, and had suffered too many defeats to let her best chance slip through her fingers. Shuuichi could understand that. It was a familiar tale, to him. Something black crawled out from under his sleeve cuff; Shuuichi pulled his sleeve down over his wrist, and refused to look at it anymore. It was a tale he would like to see the end of, as well.

He scratched the circle into the dirt, and settled down to wait.

-0-0-0-

When he was sixteen and still new at this, Shuuichi often stumbled over incantations, botching a job on the first try. The second time, he’d get it right, or the third, and what clients would accept the services of a teenager and a raw novice cared more about results than they did whether or not Shuuichi got everything right on the first try.

This wasn’t then. Three years had lent surety to his tongue, and Shuuichi didn’t stumble over incantations anymore. Caught in the circle, the wolf, golden in daylight, writhed, screamed, burned. But that didn’t last long. It never did, when things went the way they were supposed to.

Gasping slightly, the blindfolded ayakashi knelt by the circle, running her hand over the blackened earth, until her palm was coated with ash. Feeling pretty exhausted himself, Shuuichi collapsed to the ground, letting out a deep breath. _That took a lot more out of me than it has in a while. But at least it’s gone now._

“He’s…” The ayakashi bowed her head too low for Shuuichi to get a good look at her face. “…He’s really gone?”

“We’ve seen the last of it,” Shuuichi confirmed. “It’s not coming back after that.”

She nodded choppily, her shoulders hunched.

Shuuichi eyed her watchfully. It might have been better to wait, but this might be the last time he saw her… “…So… We’re even?”

“Yes, Natori,” she said tiredly, her head still bowed. “We’re even.”

-0-0-0-

Shuuichi returned to the inn, and it was business as usual, as though he’d never gone out in the woods and exorcised a dangerous ayakashi. His colleagues weren’t all that interested in why he’d run off; it was well-known that Natori Shuuichi was a little odd, after all. They expected that streak of oddness in him.

Filming went smoothly, interrupted twice due to rain, but really, that was a lot better than usual. Shuuichi still snickered over his lines in private, and he and everyone else did indeed start to get a bit testy over the endless retakes they were called upon to reform. Some things were a constant, and aggravation over retakes was one of them.

Shuuichi got his stitches taken out. He was glad to be rid of them; he was sick of the way it felt when fabric rubbed over them. The bite marks the wolf had given him hadn’t even left scars. That Shuuichi didn’t even have that much to serve as a reminder of what had happened, well, it made everything start to seem a bit unreal.

Adding to the unreality of it all was the pall that still hung over the town. Shuuichi still heard whispered rumors passed between wide-eyed people in the shops or the inn. The streets still cleared out as sunset approached; the forest at night was still completely empty of people (Though Shuuichi had seen a few animals, the last time he checked). Everyone still got this pale, pinched look about them when they heard that someone’s cat hadn’t shown up for supper or someone’s child turned up late from school.

He wished he could tell them that the danger was past. He wished he could tell them that so long as no human killer or no other blood-hungry ayakashi took up residence in the hills, no one else was going to go missing or be killed. But he couldn’t. They didn’t even know what it was that had menaced them, and who would believe Shuuichi if he told them, anyways?

But that was what ayakashi did, whenever they interfered with the lives of humans who couldn’t even see them, let alone protect themselves from them. They inspired terror without ever needing to be seen. Shuuichi knew, all too well, how difficult it was for people to free themselves from fear of something they couldn’t even see. Maybe, one day, this town would forget its fear. One day.

To Shuuichi’s surprise, the blindfolded ayakashi didn’t disappear for good after he exorcised the wolf for her. Whenever they were doing filming, she would be there, perched in a tree nearby, watching them. It didn’t seem like she wanted anything else from Shuuichi; she never spoke to him, or even approached him. She just sat, and watched.

_Even now that the wolf’s gone, she doesn’t have anything else to do, or anywhere else to be?_

Sometimes, when Shuuichi saw her, he bit his lip, and wondered.

Finally, one day, after everyone else had gone, he walked over to the tree where she was sitting and called up into the branches, “Can you hear me from there?”

“Of course I can hear you!” came the indignant reply, but there was no real bite to her voice. “Why? What is it?”

Shuuichi drew a deep breath and said, “I’ve got a proposition for you, if you’re interested.”


End file.
